Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Nanotechnology: 10 times more efficiency in the absorption of light in solar cells

The contributions of nanotechnology or nanoscience seem endless, since it opens up new worlds to scientists, where things behave differently when you thought if they are carried the minimum scale of chemistry part of a meter (nanometer). And research and innovation in the field of solar energy is taking great benefit from this.

In this case will bring new research forward by engineers of the University of Stanford. This team has designed blades solar cells that can absorb sunlight much more efficiently than cells thick, expensive, and made from Silicon.The key lies in light behaves differently from close to the nanometer scale.

The result is that – by combining different thin layers of films of organic polymers is absorbed 10 times more light than I thought possible. This is achieved because they have managed to retain the light within the solar cell for longer.The longer stays the photon bouncing in the cell, more energy you can get it. A key factor in achieving this behavior of the wavelength of light was rough materials used.

Visible light has waves of about 400 to 700 nanometers.Stanford scientists decided to experiment with thick materials substantially lower the light wave, and noted that in this way can confine light longer achieving excellent results.

Apart from its high productivity the solar cells at the nanometric have other advantages: materials are expensive, and their manufacture is simpler than silicon-based cells.